A conversation between a Soldier and a Software engineer

Mr. Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. He was the project manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, that it would be time savings. He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

‘Are you from the software industry sir,’ the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.

Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

‘You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized.’

‘Thanks,’ smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation.

‘You people always amaze me,’ the man continued, ‘You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.’

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. ‘It is not as simple as that, my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it. It is complex, very complex.’

‘It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,’ came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. ‘Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?’

The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. ‘You design and code such things’.

‘I used to,’ Vivek paused for effect, ‘but now I am the project manager.’

‘Oh!’ sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, ‘so your life is easy now.’

This was like the last straw for Vivek.

He retorted, ‘Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work.. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.’ ‘My friend,’ he concluded triumphantly, ‘you don’t know what it is to be in the Line of Fire’. The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

‘I know sir. I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire’. He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time. ‘There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom.In the morning when we finally hoisted the Tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive.’

‘You are a…?’

‘I am Subhedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the "Safety and Welfare of the Nation foremost followed by the Safety and Welfare of the Men" he commanded and his own personal safety came last, always and every time.’

‘He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir. I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire.’ Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subhedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight. ‘It was nice meeting you sir.’

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This hand had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour.

Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.